We're coming to the end of the year.  2015 is a year I hope to never repeat!  Don't know when I will get back to the me I used to be - before the Texas Roadhouse accident!

Just wanted to post a picture of the downtown "Christmas" lights by my work.

Yes, it's a "U" for the University of Utah.  Our street's decorations for the holidays.



Enjoy your New Years!

This is the house I grew up in - and my siblings & me.  

From left to right:  Tracy, number Three, LeAnne, number Two, Me (Jimi) The oldest - number one, LaVon, number Six, Vickilyn, number Five and Camille, number Four.

There was always lots of love there.

I baked this in a glass bread pan.

This is what the mixture looks like.

Just waiting for some dip.

Thanksgiving memories for me is my Grandma Mines' carrot pudding.  I can't imagine how much she had to make to serve all of us, but it's one of my favorite dishes.

Baked Carrot Pudding

2 cups grated carrots
1/3 cup melted shortening
1 cup flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. salt
1 t. soda
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 cup raisins (or to taste)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (i like walnuts in this)

Mix this all together.  I let it sit for a few minutes, and it mixed a lot better.  Bake in a well greased pan.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake 350 degrees 45-60 minutes.  Serve with dip.

I'm not sure of the exact recipe, but this one is close.  

Dip

1 can - canned milk 
1 can water
sugar to taste
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
3-4 T. cornstarch

Combine ingredients and cook over medium heat until thick.

I've used boxed vanilla pudding, adding an extra cup of milk.
Also, lemon pudding that you cook is very good over it.  To a large package of pudding mix, I added an extra cup of water.

Enjoy!

204 East - Our Family Home

Just some of the stuff we sorted through.

So - we worked on my mom's house, cleaning out stuff, throwing away stuff, fighting over stuff.  

Two months later I had an accident at Texas Roadhouse.  A waitress backed into the space I was walking in, and I backed up to avoid hitting her.  Unfortunately, I backed into a post and hit the top corner of my left shoulder.  It hurt, and for a few days I complained about the pain.  It loosened the front of my collar bone, too.

We tried to see an orthopedic surgeon, but saw his PA instead.  She gave me all of the wrong things for a diabetic.

I ended up in ICU for about ten days - ten days in which I remember NOTHING.  I guess I did some crazy, weird, funny things there.  I got a blood infection, staff infection, UTI and a yeast infection.  My kidneys shut down.

They wanted to put me on dialyses, but my hubby wouldn't let them.  Eventually, I got a little better.  I got good enough that I could be moved to the eighth floor for the next five weeks.

When I finally came home I had a wound vac.  A cardiologist put a nice slice in my chest to try and get the infection out of my body.  Even at the end of November I'm still on antibiotics.

I got the vac removed and this week, the doctor said my wound is healed!  I still have some problems from the accident.

Good news is, I'm getting better and stronger every day.

Never take life for granted.  Your life can change in  second.

September 2nd, 2015 - a big life changer for me.

 Wow!  What a difficult year!  I was hoping things would get better, but things got worse.

My mom got worse and worse.  For a long time my sisters and I have been taking Mom dinner and spending the night.  We got Hospice involved.  One night we had a social worker come and talk with Mom and us five girls.  

Some of my sisters were having a hard time leaving their family - sometimes twice a week - to take care of Mom.  I don't know if it broke her heart or not, but she passed away two days later.

It is so hard to lose your mama.  My mom always knew what we were doing, things we were interested in, our friends, our hobbies, our struggles.  My mom was a wonderful mom, wife and grandma.

Mom was always interested in people.  She was very accepting of everyone.

July 9, 2015 the world lost a wonderful woman.

 

 

This just shows how I'm feeling right now.  This poor bird was taxidermied a long time ago.

Maybe May will be a little kinder.

 

A few more pictures of the cousins.

 

Pie Day - Enjoy it.

My cousin, Liz - this is her beautiful home, Shirley, Sharlet, LeAnne, Vicki, Jimi, Eunice

                                                             Ila & Joyce

This month has been so busy!  It seems like there has been a shower or party every Saturday.  I guess I'll look back and appreciate the active social life.

Last weekend we had a cousins Party.  We had our mom, three of her girls, her sister and her daughter and three of the cousins from the sister that passed away ten years ago.  We had been wanting to do something fun, and this is the first time we did it.  I hope we can do it again.  It was a blast!

My sister & I arrived in blue shirts.  The next set of cousins were both wearing a bright peachy orange color.  My mom & other sister had on black.  My cousin Liz, just started laughing because she had a beige sweater on - just like her mom!  Weird. 

I'll add a few pictures.  It was such a great day.

Let's see if I could do a blog a month . . .  not many days left of this one.



My parents bought a house with a well.  There is nothing as tasty as well water.  It runs year round.  My mom has been afraid that if you shut it off for the winter, it won't come back.

It's been really cold, and the well water creates it's own art.  It is more impressive in person. 

Stay warm.

On a serious note,  I've been thinking about something that has bothered me for a while.

Sometimes someone does something to us that seems pretty traumatic.  That person doesn't realize how that has affected us.  

Someone at work reported something I did, which I should not have done and I was on report for three months.  I ended up not working with this individual for a few years.

I saw this person in a store, I started shaking, got panicky and ran out of the store! 

Things worked out that we were in the same work area again.  I had all of this trauma, and this person didn't act as if anything had ever happened.

So . . .

       something that causes us pain is our cross to bear, and we need to find a way to work it out for our benefit, the other person probably doesn't even care.  

Forgiveness is for ourselves.  It will set us free from the burden of carrying it with us all the time.  

I've read the five "Walk" books by Richard Paul Evans.  He explains it much better than me.  

When I finally realized how much that report had ruined my life for months, bothered the person - zero - I had to find my own way to let go.

THANKS to : Jeanne. Bonnie, Fontella, Cheryl, (me) & LeAnne!

Great cards for January 2015

It's the start of a New Year. 

I would like to blog more.  I want to learn new things, try new recipes, read more books.

My husband's goals for the year are to be more kind and have more patience. 

My goal might be to have more patience when I'm driving, and not get so uptight over jerky drivers.  It's Utah - what should I expect?

I'm feeling sort of bad.  One of my daughter set a goal to not drink pop last year.  Both her and her husband accomplished this goal.  A couple of the guys at work started making dirty diet cokes, and I got really into it.  I would tell my daughter about it - and it didn't help with her goal.

I promised my daughter that I would buy her the first dirty drink of the year - as she had a pop again.  She got this tiny little thing - put some coconut and peach flavorings into a Pepsi along with a bit of half & half.  She said that she didn't miss the pop that much, but the dirty Pepsi - well, just maybe I had gotten her off to a year full of pop!

I'm going to try and be a better influence in my kids lives!